Co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were paid their customary $1 salaries
last year

Google paid co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin their customary $1 salaries last year while executive chairman Eric Schmidt's compensation more than doubled to $19.3m.

Most of Mr Schmidt's raise stemmed from stock grants valued at $11.4m. Google issued them to make up for an administrative error in the handling of another large award given to Mr Schmidt in February 2011, according to regulatory documents.

If not for the mix-up, Mr Schmidt's pay package last year would have risen 4pc from the $7.6m that he received in 2012.

Mr Page, Google's chief executive, and Mr Brin, another top executive, have insisted on capping their salaries at $1 annually since Google went public nearly a decade ago. It's a symbolic gesture that many other Silicon Valley executives have made after amassing fortunes through the stock that they held in their respective companies.

Mr Page, 41, and Mr Brin, 40, each own Google stock currently worth about $26bn.

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Mr Schmidt, 58, has accumulated wealth estimated at $9bn by Forbes magazine. He also limited his salary to $1 annually while he was chief executive.

The pay scale has changed dramatically since Mr Schmidt turned over the chief executive job to Mr Page three years ago. In 2011, Mr Schmidt received compensation valued at $101m, with most of the money tied up in restricted stock designed to keep him working at Google. Last month, Google disclosed that Mr Schmidt is receiving another stock award valued at $100m this year.

As Google's executive chairman, Mr Schmidt primarily deals with regulatory issues, government relationships and company acquisitions. The company thought Mr Schmidt did such a good job last year that he received his maximum cash bonus of $6m to supplement his $1.25m salary.

None of the other Google executives listed in the proxy statement qualified for their maximum bonuses last year.

Google and its stockholders fared well last year. The company's earnings climbed 20pc from the previous year to $12.9bn and its stock price gained 58pc. The Standard & Poor's 500 index increased by 30pc last year.